Elsbeth Season 3 Finale Wraps Up With Another Music-Related Murder & Teddy’s Best Subplot Yet

Critic’s Rating: 4.8 / 5.0

4.8

It’s a tradition now.

Two years in a row, Elsbeth has wrapped up its season with an episode that centers around music.

Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 20 wasn’t a musical episode (thankfully!) and didn’t have the ridiculous Elsbeth-in-jail drama, but it did feature an aging singer who was the latest person to think she could get away with murder.

Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 20 Featured Patti Lupone As The Thoroughly Unlikable Killer

Patti Lupone is one of the biggest guest stars Elsbeth has had yet, but unfortunately, her character was one of the most obnoxious.

Lately, Elsbeth Season 3 has been featuring killers so annoying that it’s a relief when Elsbeth finally gathers enough proof to put them behind bars, and Ruby Lane was among the worst offenders.

Ruby was the epitome of an entitled diva. Even before the murder, she was abusive toward her co-star, although they both acted like it was part of a planned joke when she forgot the words to her song.

It wasn’t clear why she killed Vernon Duke until later in the hour — unless I missed it, the issue of the building being sold didn’t come up until halfway through.

In the scheme of things, though, it didn’t matter whether the motive was clear. The fun part of the episode involved Ruby’s inability to act like a decent human being, making it increasingly clear that she was the killer as she desperately tried to cover her tracks.

If the way Ruby suddenly switched from acting like Elsbeth was her new best friend to being disgusted by her supposed phoniness and storming off didn’t give away the game, nothing would have.

From that point on, Elsbeth’s mission was clear — she needed to prove that this obnoxious and anxious woman was hiding the fact that she had killed someone. And everything Ruby did to try to throw her off the trail made things worse.

I especially enjoyed Ruby’s desperate excuse-making after Elsbeth watched Father Crime and discovered it didn’t match Ruby’s description of her role in the episode.

As an aside, the meta-humor about crime shows’ love of featuring murderous nuns was brilliant. Meta humor can be tricky to get right, but this time, Elsbeth nailed it.

Of course, before Elsbeth could prove that Ruby killed Vernon on Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 20, she first had to deal with the charming red herring who loved art.

Elsbeth knew that Monty likely had nothing to do with the murder, but his idiotic way of dealing with his obsession with art didn’t help anything. In what universe would entering a murder scene because you like the artwork not lead to an arrest?

Fortunately, that silliness was dealt with quickly so that Elsbeth could get on with the business of catching Ruby in enough lies to make her case.

Sometimes, Elsbeth’s unravelings of the crimes have not been. upto part lately, but this one was brilliant.

Elsbeth’s legendary overuse of big bags came in handy rather than being a prop or a character quirk — she was able to switch Ruby’s bag with an identical-looking one so that she could find the murder weapon.

Of course, it’s not clear that the evidence would be admissible in court, given how it was obtained, but this isn’t Law & Order. Elsbeth doesn’t often worry about what happens after the arrest — its purpose is to entertain us while trapping the criminal.

The Ironic Thing Is That Ruby Could Have Been Sympathetic

Everything she did, including killing Vernon, was because she felt New York City had left her behind after her husband’s death. She was now an older woman, alone, and the entertainment circuit barely had a place for her.

As a result, she was barely making ends meet and had no one or nothing that gave her joy anymore.

That doesn’t excuse the way she treated her co-star or Elsbeth, never mind killing someone, but it did make her a bit more sympathetic once that motive came out.

Her pain was perfectly juxtaposed with the Teddy subplot, leaving Elsbeth feeling somewhat irrelevant as Teddy became determined to plan his wedding without her.

I didn’t blame Teddy for rejecting Elsbeth’s outlandish ideas. They weren’t who he was, nor did they fit the life he was building with Rory.

Still, Elsbeth wants desperately to be involved in her son’s life, especially since their relationship has been rocky for ages, and it just poured salt in that wound when Rory revealed that he and Teddy might move to the suburbs to start a family.

Did you enjoy the Teddy subplot?
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Elsbeth knows better than to try to force Teddy to stay in her life, but she was unable to resist inserting skywriting and other ridiculous suggestions for the proposal one too many times, causing Teddy to explode.

I especially liked that Teddy turned to Captain Wagner for ideas instead, giving the captain a rare chance to talk about his personal life with someone who wants more from him than just permission to investigate a case.

Kaya’s Cameo Proved She Needs To Return For Elsbeth Season 4

We need more of Kaya and Elsbeth’s friendship! That brief cameo and Kaya working undercover again weren’t enough.

Elsbeth always feels like a different and better show when Elsbeth and Kayla share scenes.

Or at least, that’s how I see it. What about you, Elsbeth fanatics?

Hit the comments with your thoughts about Kaya’s brief appearance, what you loved and hated about the Elsbeth Season 3 finale, and what you want to happen when the series returns in the fall.

Since we don’t have our usual poll for you this time, rate the episode in the comments, too.

If you enjoyed this article, check out our coverage of the similarly themed Only Murders in the Building.

Elsbeth Season 4 will return on CBS in the fall of 2026.

In the meantime, you can catch up on Elsbeth Season 3 on Paramount+

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